A Friendship Forged In Stone
by DisneyDreamWorksFanatic1999
Summary: Set sometime after Brother Bear 2 events. When Melissa and Marcus are finally allowed into the open world, they meet a friendly bear named Kenai who quickly becomes a friend. Melissa and Kenai share some stories, and learn more about each other through cave paintings. No flames please! Review please!


A Friendship Forged In Stone

At the age of 14, Melissa and Marcus were eager to explore the outside world. Finally, they were given their chance that night, and the next morning, they packed up and headed south. With Artemisia at their side, they explored the Alaskan wilderness

"Man, I never thought the outside world was this spectacular. Wonder what kinds of wildlife we'll encounter here?"

"Who knows?" Marcus grinned, he was enjoying himself, he was able to spend time with his best friends, and the trio was allowed out of the valley, it was like a miracle almost.

Then, Artemisia sighted a familiar landmark

"**Hey guys, check it out.**" She pointed to a three-tipped mountaintop, and moving towards them, were the Northern Lights

"Whoa…that. Is. Awesome." The trio flew up and was fascinated by the scenery from their position, when Melissa turned to her right, she saw what looked like a very large creek, and what looked like bears

"Hey guys, look."

"Are those…bears?"

"Looks like it."

Kenai's P.O.V

It was a beautiful day at the salmon run. Koda was enjoying himself by playing with the other bear cubs, and Nita, my mate and my son and daughter Sitka and Kenia were off to the side resting. I heard the cry of an eagle, and smiled when I saw one not far off behind me, I gave it a respected nod and he flew off. Ever since I was transformed into a bear three years ago, I always knew that an eagle, like this one, was the spirit of my older brother Sitka, and when my son was born, I decided to name him after my brother, it seemed fair and Sitka is just like his namesake.

The eagle suddenly flew off to where the lights touch the earth, and when I squinted, I could barely see three figures. I didn't think much about it and blocked my face as Koda splashed water at me

"Koda!"

"Haha! Gotcha Kenai!"

"Yeah you sure did."

"Hey Kenai! Look!" He was pointing to the mountain

"Yes Koda, I know."

"But, even thought we're pretty far, it looks like there's someone there." Then, out of nowhere, a flock of gulls came screaming towards us

"HUMAN! HUMAN! HUMAN! HUMAN!"

"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" Huh? I squinted again, and there were three figures moving down the mountain. I stood and told Koda to stay with Nita and the cubs

"Where are you going Kenai?"

"I'm going to check out what's going on up there, stay here, okay?"

"Okay Kenai! But be careful! Please!" I nodded, and with the stares of the other bears following me, I ran into the forest.

Melissa's P.O.V

Artemisia grabs the back of my tunic

"Artemisia? What the heck?"

"**There's someone coming.**"

"Recognize the scent?"

"**It, smells like a, bear.**"

"I'm not worried."

"I think we should be."

"Will you relax? Remember, I can talk to animals, and so can you, maybe we can have a chat with the-." I trail off as I feel a wave of hot breath down my neck; I smack myself in the face and ask

"It's right behind me isn't it?" Marcus and Artemisia don't say anything. "I'll take that as a yes." I turn, and sure enough, there's a bear right behind me. But I stand my ground and let it roar in my face, and the roar blows my hair back.

Nita's P.O.V

I hear a roar coming from the nearby mountain, it sounds like Kenai, and Tug walks up and asks

"Where'd Kenai go?" Koda answers

"He went to the mountain, he thinks there's humans up there."

"What makes him think that?" Koda shrugs and I say

"He'll be fine. He's told me he's done this many times before. But I hope he's okay."

Melissa's P.O.V

The bear stops roaring and I realize that it's a male, not a female, surprisingly

"Calm down, will ya? We're no harm." I say calmly, brushing myself clean, and the bear gives me a very surprised look

"Wait, wait, you can understand me?"

"Yeah, so can he." I gesture to Marcus and he gives the bear a shy wave, "Names Melissa by the way. Yours?"

"Kenai."

"Nice to meet you Kenai. This is Marcus, and that's Artemisia. And no need to be frightened, she won't hurt anyone."

"Nice to meet you guys too. So, you know about this place?"

"Eh, sorta, Artemisia here knows about from her childhood."

"What about you?"

"I'm not from around here actually. The three of us come from the north."

"I see."

"So uh, what's all that down there?"

"That's the salmon run. There's quite the abundance of salmon there, hence the name."

"Neat, and you don't need to worry about taking the fish, we've got plenty of food from where we come from."

"Okay, want to come on down?"

"Uh, won't they see us as a threat?"

"Oh, right. Don't worry; I've dealt with hunters before. I'll convince everyone else too."

"Um, okay."

Marcus, Artemisia and I follow Kenai down to what he calls a salmon run. Once we get there, we stay in the woods until Kenai gives us the all clear and I can hear him say

"Now everyone, I know you're scared of hunters, and Koda, you were right about the humans up on the mountain, but no need to be scared, they can talk to us. So they're no harm to us, or the cubs. You guys can come on out." Marcus and I walk out, and I leave my bow and arrows with Artemisia, and the bears looked pretty surprised to see us

"Uh…hi." I say, and the darker brown bear, which Kenai called Koda, walks up to us, I kneel down and I say again

"Hi."

"Hi! I'm Koda!"

"Nice to meet you. I'm Melissa."

Kenai's P.O.V

Koda already seems to be happy on meeting Melissa and Marcus, Niat walks up and whispers

"They really don't seem so different from us when we were humans at that age." I nod in agreement

"True." Before we know it, Melissa and Marcus are playing with the cubs who seem to attracted to them, Sitka and Kenia quickly join them, but since they have just emerged from their first winter, they're still young so the two humans go easy on them.

Later on that day, I take Melissa with me to a grouping of rocks that are covered with paintings

"Wow." She says

"You've never seen these before?"

"A couple of times, but I was very young at the time, but did something related to this once a few years ago."

"What was that?"

"There was a cave near my home with soft rock, I pressed my fingers up into the rock and made designs with it and showed my father."

"What's your family like?"

"Actually. The family I have isn't my real family." I was confused, how was that possible

"Huh?"

"When I was a week old, I was accidentally abandoned by my birth mother, and I was adopted by a saber, ground sloth and a mammoth, believe it or not." I was shocked, so…she didn't even know her birth family?

"Wow, I guess…"

"You guess what?"

"Well, I've got some lost family too."

"How so?"

"A few years ago, my oldest brother died and became a spirit."

"Then that means he's your guide!"

"Yes, his name was Sitka, I also have another brother, Denahi. He's the middle kid, his totem is the wolf."

"And I'm assuming yours is the bear?"

"You guessed right."

"You know Kenai, I'm glad we met, but Marcus, Artemisia and I have to go, my father is a worry-wart, so I don't want to send him into a panic attack, anyway, maybe I'll come back and visit sometime soon?"

"Sounds great. I'll tell the others."

"Thanks Kenai! See you!" I watched as Melissa ran off with Marcus and Artemisia, really, the three of them are so kind, and I do hope they come back and visit

"Bye you guys!" Koda calls out. And with us bears watching, the young trio takes off.

"They'll come back." I say

"Great! I can't wait to see them again!"

"Me too!" Now all the bears here at the salmon run know that not all humans are bad. This was a friendship forged in stone, and I'm glad I met her.


End file.
